Geiger, T. (1928), Führen und Folgen, Berlin: Weltgeist Bücher.
Introduction
In Führen und Folgen (Leading and Following), Theodor Geiger develops a sociological theory of leadership that rejects both heroic leader myths and too naive democratic ideals. Writing against the backdrop of modern social upheaval, Geiger argues that crises of leadership are not accidental or pathological, but structural features of societies undergoing rapid transformation. Leadership, he argues, must be understood not as personal domination or moral superiority, but as a social function that arises from group life itself.
Leadership over groups
Geiger begins by redefining the basic unit of analysis: the social group. Groups are not mere collections of individuals but real social unities that generate a shared “we-consciousness.” Leadership, accordingly, doesn't address individuals as whole persons, but relates to them as members of a group. From this perspective, leadership is exercised over the group’s unity, instead of over isolated individuals, and the apparent opposition between leader and mass is revealed as a misleading abstraction.
Leadership functions
Building on this foundation, Geiger distinguishes multiple types of leadership functions. First, all leadership contains a representative element: the leader embodies and symbolises the group’s unity, both internally and externally. Second, in smaller or more intimate groups, leadership may also take a caring or pastoral form, where attention to individual members is essential because individuality itself is constitutive of the group. Third, in modern, goal-oriented societies, however, leadership increasingly takes the form of organising or interpretive leadership, whose central task is to translate the group’s emotionally shared but inarticulate will into concrete goals, plans, and decisions. Here the leader does not invent the group’s purpose but interprets and operationalises it.
Tension between leaders and followers
Geiger places particular emphasis on the inevitable tension between leaders and followers. Because leaders must interpret the collective will from a particular standpoint, disagreement, disappointment, and mistrust are unavoidable. Far from being signs of failure, these tensions are normal and necessary. Leadership becomes pathological only when such tensions are denied, suppressed, or allowed to accumulate without legitimate channels of expression.
Leadership legitimacy
A major contribution of the book lies in Geiger’s analysis of the sources of leadership legitimacy. He distinguishes:
- leadership grounded in natural or biological facts (such as age or parenthood),
- leadership justified by proximity to transcendent values (especially religious authority),
- leadership legitimated “from below” through trust and delegation (as in democratic systems), and
- leadership based on performance and success, exemplified by dictatorship.
No single source is sufficient on its own; stable leadership typically combines institutional authority with personal prestige, while breakdowns occur when these drift apart.
One leader or multiple leaders
Geiger differentiates between individual leadership and leadership by several persons. He shows that many apparent cases of multiple leadership are merely divisions of tasks or jurisdictions. Genuine plural leadership exists only where several persons jointly and equally exercise authority over the same group, as in collegial bodies. Such arrangements reduce subjective distortion of the collective will but introduce new risks, including indecision, elite closure, and the displacement of authority by personal prestige.
The social structure around leadership
Geiger introduces a set of distinctions:
- the leader,
- the leadership stratum (a pool of potential leaders),
- the leading estate (a closed group that permanently monopolises leadership), and
- the ruling class (dominant through economic power rather than formal leadership).
Confusing these categories leads to false diagnoses of democracy, oligarchy, and elite rule.
Leadership versus influence
Leadership isn't defined by originality, expertise, or persuasive power, but by the socially recognised authority to transform ideas into binding collective decisions. Advisors, experts, and charismatic figures may influence outcomes, but they are not leaders unless they possess this decisional authority. Leadership crises emerge:
- when prestige overrides legitimacy,
- when advisory influence replaces authorised decision-making, or
- when leadership hardens into a self-reproducing clique.
Conclusion
Führen und Folgen presents leadership as a dynamic, relational, and historically conditioned process. Geiger's central normative insight is that modern societies must learn to institutionalise the tension between leaders and followers; to provide stable yet revisable forms of authority that allow disappointment, criticism, and renewal without sliding into either authoritarian rigidity or permanent instability. The enduring problem of leadership lies not in finding ideal leaders or perfect systems, but in sustaining this fragile balance within the structures of collective life.